Following the success of cartoon-ish action RPG Nobody Saves the World, Guacamelee developer DrinkBox Studios has announced another action RPG called Blighted. Part of me is sad to see the studio isn't working on another Metroidvania just yet, because its Guacamalee series represents some of the best Metroidvania games around, but DrinkBox simply cannot miss, and Blighted looks great so far.
Where Nobody Saves the World had a flatter 2D perspective that found depth primarily through a variety of forms for the main character, Blighted has more of a 3D, Hades kind of vibe to it, just to give you a quick and commonly known point of reference. It's an isometric action game with silky smooth animations and a lot of projectiles flying around, where a "dynamic difficulty system" regularly changes "enemies, the player, and the world around them."
Blighted begins with, you guessed it, a blight. On Steam, the devs explain that, in a world where the knowledge of the dead is passed down through seeds of memories, "you are the lone survivor of Sorcisto’s rampage," a tragedy caused by a villainous monster who gorged on the brains of the living, and you're "fighting to reclaim the memories of your people, before your own Blight overtakes you."
Sharing knowledge preserved in the brains of the dead also plays into progression; you can power up by absorbing brains from bosses. This is where my Metroidvania sense starts to tingle, not just because it's DrinkBox, but because these upgrades are capable of "widening your skillset and opening up new paths."
Blighted was listed on Steam just hours ago and immediately had the Metroidvania tag, and I'm thinking that's not a coincidence. Let's not ignore this line, either: "Pay careful attention while exploring to unlock the many deep secrets of Blighted’s world."
"Combat in Blighted is nuanced and deadly," DrinkBox adds. "Carefully time your attacks to weave through enemies, chain together combos, and perform powerful finishers." We get a taste of that in the reveal trailer, which is heavy on scythe swinging and even heavier on parrying attacks with a blue flash.
DrinkBox hasn't put out a single bad game, even in the pre-Guacamelee days of Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, and Blighted is nearly tailor-made to my tastes. It's out in 2026, evidently just on PC for now, and it'll be on my wishlist until then.
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